Hauling as Much, for Much Less Pay

By DIRK JOHNSON,

Published: April 10, 1994

DENVER, April 9—
Behind the wheel of a groaning diesel rig hauling a 28-foot trailer, Tim Hart backed smoothly into the bay of a shipping warehouse, as deftly as an expert teamster.

But unlike the striking teamsters, who make over $17 an hour, Mr. Hart is paid about $9 an hour for Miller Brothers Inc., a nonunion freight carrier in Denver.

"I bust my tail, doing the exact same thing the union drivers do," said the 29-year-old trucker with a soft voice and a thick beard. "And they make double what I do. It bothers me. I mean, if those companies can afford to pay that much, why can't mine? We're in the same business."

But many trucking companies, especially the smaller ones like Miller Brothers, which had once been union, say they cannot afford the higher wages. Scores of transport companies, in fact, have gone out of business in recent years. Union's Shrinking Role

The teamsters strike, which began at midnight Tuesday and involves 75,000 truckers and warehouse workers, is aimed at companies using part-time workers in the "less than load" business, or L.T.L., the transport of a combination of loads going to various destinations, as opposed to a full load of a single product going to a single place.

Twenty years ago, these truckers were overwhelmingly teamsters; today, union workers account for less than half the L.T.L. business, especially those concentrating on short runs, like Miller Brothers.

Cathie Miller, the president of the company, says she "does not begrudge" the workers who want higher wages.

"I'd like to be able to pay them more," said Ms. Miller, 50, whose father, Ivan Miller, started the company in the 1930's. "But the cold, hard facts are that we can't. The revenue isn't there."

She said the company nearly went broke using union drivers in the early 1970's, with payroll costs that ran about 85 percent of revenues. Since going nonunion in 1974, after a bitter strike that involved tire slashing and vandalism, the company has grown stronger with the lower wages. Its payroll of 90 workers now accounts for about half of its revenues, which have grown 15 percent to 20 percent in recent years. Deregulation's Legacy

In the current strike, Miller has been busier than ever, picking up the slack left by idled carriers. Even a supervisor, Steve Levin, has climbed behind the wheel of a truck. But the company has declined to cross teamster picket lines.

Competition in the trucking business has grown fierce, especially since deregulation in 1980, which opened the roads to independent companies once closed out.

"It's a different world out there," Ms. Miller said. "It's a global economy now. And technology has changed things, too. We have fewer people working in the office now. With computers, it only takes five people to do the work that used to take 12."

Ms. Miller said she would not blame her truckers for taking a higher-paying union job. But those jobs are scarce, as many of the big companies are turning to part-timers, rather than hiring full-time workers. Time for Playing Catch

While the pay of a nonunion truck driver is less, the work is not. Mr. Hart, whose arm muscles bulge not from weightlifting but from wrestling with the steering wheel and unloading goods, made more than 15 stops around Denver on Friday afternoon.

"I do enjoy the job," said Mr. Hart, who graduated from suburban Arvada West High School in 1982 but did not attend college. "I get to be out, do my own thing. And I get to go home every night."

Mr. Hart, the youngest of eight children to a father who was a trucker and a mother who worked in a soda factory, said he would not be interested in the long hauls that take a driver away from his family for weeks at a time, even though the pay is higher. "My boy's got his first ball game tomorrow," he said of his 8-year-old son, Jeff. "Soon as I get home tonight, we're going to play some catch."

His wife, Susan, works as a bookkeeper. Between them, they earn about $43,000 a year and have been saving to buy a house. Mr. Hart said he liked the Miller company, but would not rule out trying to get a teamster job someday, after gaining more experience. Heavy Lifting at $6.25

Mr. Hart was working with Ruben Herrera, 24, who helps load and unload the shipments for $6.25 an hour. When the talk of union wages came up, Mr. Herrera, who has two children, simply whistled in amazement.

After checking in at the trucking yard Friday morning, they rolled down the streets of Denver and its suburbs -- Santa Fe, Sixth Avenue, Bryant Street, Interstate 25 -- loading and unloading, filling out forms, calling the dispatcher.

Around noon, they stopped for lunch at Katy's Best, where they each had a plate of food for about $3, and were back in the truck 30 minutes later. They stopped at warehouses for irrigation equipment, air conditioning parts, paint supplies, often navigating narrow alleys to find the docks.

Mr. Hart, who wore a work shirt with "Tim" stitched on the pocket, has never gotten a ticket for a driving violation, on the job or off. The Miller company pays a bonus of $150 to workers for every three months of spotless driving. The company also provides health insurance, with the employee paying about 30 percent of the costs.

After high school, Mr. Hart worked painting beer trucks for Coors in Golden, making about $11 an hour. But he was laid off when the brewery decided it would be cheaper to contract out the work. He got a job with a nonunion trucking company, but left a year ago when the business appeared likely to fail, and caught on with Miller.

"For a working person," he said, as he gripped the wheel tightly, "things are getting tighter all the time." -------------------- Talks Hit a Snag

WASHINGTON, April 9 (Special to The New York Times) -- The teamsters union said today that Trucking Management Inc., a negotiating group that represents the 22 trucking companies affected by the union's strike, refused to allow 18 of its members to negotiate an interim agreement with the union.

On Wednesday, T.M.I. freed the 18 small trucking companies to negotiate contracts that would enable those companies to work under temporary accords while the union's strike proceeded against four large truckers: Yellow Freight, Roadway Express, Consolidated Freightways and A.B.F.

The 22 companies were struck at midnight Tuesday by 75,000 drivers, dock workers and mechanics. The 18 small companies employ about 6,000 teamsters.

Seven small trucking companies accepted the union's invitation to meet today at Teamster headquarters here. But they were barred by T.M.I. from genuine negotiations, the union said.

Arthur H. Bunte Jr., president of T.M.I., said that the union should not seek to bargain individually with each of the 18 companies. "As a matter of legal position, T.M.I. represents these companies and the union has no authority to bargain individually with them," Mr. Bunte said.

The primary issues in the strike involve the companies' desire to use part-time workers during peak periods at docking terminals and to increase the use of rail transport.

Photo: "I bust my tail, doing the exact same thing the union drivers do, and they make double what I do," said Tim Hart, who as a trucker for a nonunion freight carrier in Denver is not on strike with the teamsters. (Michael Lewis for The New York Times)